On Wednesday, July 15, at 6:30 p.m. at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St., true-crime blogger Laura James tells the story of sex, deceit, money, and murder when she discusses her book The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son: Murder, Sin, and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James.

Participate in the International Year of Astronomy when Dr. Steven Hawley—astronomer, astrophysicist and astronaut—presents Galileo, Apollo, and Beyond on Tuesday, July 7, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

Gary Pomerantz talks about his new true- crime book set in Kansas City, The Devil’s Tickets: A Night of Bridge, a Fatal Hand, and a New American Age, on Wednesday, June 24, at 7 p.m. at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

In 1917, as the U.S. entered World War I, Isaac Katz turned a challenge into an opportunity. A wartime decree prohibited stores from staying open past 6 p.m. – peak hours for the Katz brothers’ tobacco store near Union Station in Kansas City. Only pharmacies could remain open in the evening. Katz found a retired pharmacist and hired him right away, saving the business and launching a new era – the chain of Katz drug stores.

On Thursday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., The Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture presents the kick-off event for the 2009 Kansas City Urban Farms and Gardens Tour with the panel discussion, Food From the City, For the City.

The Kansas City Public Library hosts poet Craig Santos Perez for a talk and reading from his new collection from Unincorporated Territory on Wednesday, June 17, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

To mark the grand opening of the H&R Block Business and Career Center at the Central Library, join us for a public conversation with Henry W. Bloch, co-founder and chairman emeritus of H&R Block. Conducted by Crosby Kemper III, director of the Kansas City Public Library, the program takes place on Thursday, June 11, at the Central Library at 6:30 p.m.

Author and historian David O. Stewart discusses his new book Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy on Wednesday, June 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.